An archer's arteries do not widen the way an endurance athlete's do
1 study · 51 archers measured
The summary today
There is a single study, from 2002, that used Doppler ultrasound to measure the arteries of 51 Japanese university athletes from six sports, seven of them archers. With values scaled to body surface area, the archers' aorta is the smallest of the six groups, and the sum of arterial diameters puts them fourth, behind long-distance runners, middle-distance runners and swimmers. Across the six sport means this total diameter moves almost in step with left ventricular mass (r=0.893 on the body-surface indices), and archery and sprinting sit together at the low end of both scales. The picture is not uniform, though: the archers' radial artery is the second widest after the weightlifters', the common carotid is third of six and the foot artery is in line with that of weightlifters, middle-distance runners and swimmers. The authors conclude that arteries widen mainly with endurance work and, on top of that, in the regions a sport uses. These are seven archers in a comparison between sports, with no before and after: the data describe the people who shoot, not what shooting does to their arteries.
Also phrased as: "archery and the cardiovascular system"; "does archery train the heart"; "athlete's heart in archers"; "arterial diameter in archers"; "vascular adaptation in archery"
In practice
It is often said that archery does nothing for the heart and circulation: you stand on the line, shoot and walk to the target, and aerobic work has to come from another sport.
Evidence
-
2002
For Archers Published later
51 Japanese male university athletes from six sports, 7 of them archers, mean age 19.6, measured by Doppler ultrasound with values scaled to body surface area: the archers' aorta is the smallest of the six groups, in the order swimming, middle distance, long distance, weightlifting, sprinting, archery. The paper reports the ranking, without a test aimed at the archers' difference.
Doppler echocardiographic analysis of exercise-induced adaptation of left ventricular muscle mass and arterial vessels in young competitive athletes of various sports · Hefeng Dai, Tatehiro Toyoshima, Hiroshi Kiyota, Makoto Yamato, Shoichi Nakano
-
2002
For Archers Published later
In the same sample, the sum of carotid, radial, foot and aortic diameters per body surface area puts the archers fourth, behind long distance, middle distance and swimming and ahead of weightlifting and sprinting. Across the six group means the total diameter correlates with left ventricular mass at r=0.657 on absolute values and r=0.893 on the indices, and ventricular mass is significantly greater in the endurance sports than in sprinting, weightlifting and archery. These are correlations on six means, not on individuals.
Doppler echocardiographic analysis of exercise-induced adaptation of left ventricular muscle mass and arterial vessels in young competitive athletes of various sports · Hefeng Dai, Tatehiro Toyoshima, Hiroshi Kiyota, Makoto Yamato, Shoichi Nakano
-
2002
Against Archers Published later
In the peripheral regions the archers are not at the bottom. The radial artery is the second widest, in the order weightlifting, archery, long distance, middle distance, swimming, sprinting, with the only significant difference between weightlifting and sprinting; the common carotid is third, after long and middle distance and ahead of sprinting, swimming and weightlifting; the dorsal foot artery practically overlaps with that of weightlifting, middle distance and swimming. The reduced diameter concerns the aorta and the total, not every artery.
Doppler echocardiographic analysis of exercise-induced adaptation of left ventricular muscle mass and arterial vessels in young competitive athletes of various sports · Hefeng Dai, Tatehiro Toyoshima, Hiroshi Kiyota, Makoto Yamato, Shoichi Nakano
Status history
- 2002 Contested The first and only comparison uses Doppler ultrasound to measure the arteries of 51 Japanese university athletes from six sports, seven of them archers. Scaled to body surface area, the archers' aorta is the smallest of the six groups, and the summed diameters place them behind long-distance runners, middle-distance runners and swimmers, in the same low zone where their left ventricular mass also sits. But the rule does not hold for every artery: the archers' radial artery is the second widest of the six groups, ahead of long-distance runners, middle-distance runners and swimmers, and the carotid is third. Seven archers, a comparison between sports with no before and after, and a result that runs two ways depending on the artery: contested.
Related
Related articles
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). An archer's arteries do not widen the way an endurance athlete's do (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/archers-arteries-endurance-sports
@misc{campagna2026_adattamentivascolariarcieri,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {An archer's arteries do not widen the way an endurance athlete's do},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/health/archers-arteries-endurance-sports},
note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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